Thailand kicks off Vegetarian Festival

BANGKOK, Oct 8 (TNA) -- Thais begin celebrating the Vegetarian Festival today all over the country marking the abstinence of meats, alcohol and stimulants observed during the 9th month of the lunar calendar. Shops at the Siriwattana fresh market in Chiang Mai have begun changing their menus to vegetarian food to welcome the Vegetarian Festival. Locals both of Chinese ancestry and Thais are flocking to buy the first vegetarian dishes to begin cleansing their bodies in observance of the nine day abstinence. Prices, however, were found to have increased on average by 5-10 baht. Similarly at the Pichit Samakee Kuson Sathan Songkro Foundation in Pichit province Thai-Chinese have begun arriving here since early morning to pay homage to Chinese deities on this the first day of Vegetarian Festival. The foundation's cafeteria accordingly have begun preparing free vegetarian foods dishes since the predawn hours in expectation of the large crowds. Go Teng poles were raised at the Trang municipal shrine alongside the lighting of more than 10,000 firecrackers by local Chinese residence to mark the beginning of the Vegetarian Festival. This was similarly done at the Chao Cheng Jui Joh Chu Khong Shrine in Krabi province. Local residents dressed in ceremonial white raised and later consumed vegetarian fare prepared by the shrines kitchens. Go Teng poles are large wooden poles on which are hung a bamboo branch with nine lanterns. These are the representation of so-called 'spirit poles' down which the Chinese believe the Emperor Gods can descend into the respective shrines. (TNA)